Steve has summed up my experience pretty well. I had no problem shifting a Campy NR derailleur with a 7 speed Suntour FW back in the day. Now, my Miyata with Silver bar end shifters and a 7 speed HG cassette is very quiet, but fussy to shift and prone to ghost shifting. The 8 speed indexed bar ends on two other bikes click into gear without a second thought, uphill, downhill, in traffic or on gravel, and after initial setup rarely need attention. Ditto the 8 speed Ergo on another bike (with a Shimano cassette and a Shift Mate to make them work together) - no problems once set up, and rear shifts of at 3 cogs down at a time and seven going up in one push are possible. I don't necessarily recommend Ergo to everyone, but it does work well.
It sounds like the OP's problem was due to a faulty shifter, not to indexing per se. Will Shimano replace the shifters under warranty? Bill On Dec 1, 10:53 am, Steve Palincsar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 08:59 -0800, Ray Shine wrote: > > All of your various responses have been quite informative. Thank you > > all. But all of this discussion begs the question; what is the > > advantage of indexed shifters over friction? In my mind, there is > > none, and I now give the edge to friction. Tell me why I'm wrong. :) > > I use both, and have a very long history with friction. Friction > shifting today's hyperglide cassettes is very different from the five > and six speed freewheels of old. Those left little doubt whether you > were correctly centered, and unless the cable tension slipped, once you > made a clean shift they never ghost-shifted. > > Hyperglide, on the other hand, gives little if any feedback when you > aren't centered, and ghost shifts are common, especially after you > downshift for a stop and then load the drivetrain when you start up > again. > > Also, 5-7 speed clusters have what feels to me like a lot of distance > between the sprockets, so it's easy to shift cleanly. I've tried > friction shifting an 8spd hyperglide cassette (using the same Silver > shifters I'm currently quite happy with on my 7spd Kogswell) and found > it exasperatingly difficult, in part because the sprockets felt too > close together, making it hard to center without an inadvertent shift. > (YMMV, as some on the iBOB list have no trouble with even 9 and 10 spd > cassettes - but for me, 7 seems to be the limit.) > > I won't argue that more sprockets are always better; in fact going from > 7 to 8 can result in the net loss of 2 sprockets. But sometimes > more /is/ more, and if you want the closer spacing you can achieve with > a 9spd compared to a 7 (while retaining the same range), you may not > find it achievable with friction shifting. It wasn't for me. > > Another factor is that friction shifts are slower. You actually have to > pay attention and center the chain, whereas an indexed shift requires no > care at all - hit the lever and you're done. You can even pre-shift: > move the lever while coasting, and the shift happens as soon as you > start pedalling. I find this extremely useful especially on dirt road > rides, where the topography changes very suddenly and you really need > that shift NOW, not a second from now and where you're busy enough that > fiddling around fine-tuning a shift lever doesn't seem to be even a > little bit fun. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
